Greece has fallen nine places in this year's Economic Freedom Index study, published today by the Center for Liberal Studies (KEFiM) in collaboration with the Canadian Fraser Institute. Specifically, our country ranks 85th among 165 countries, based on data from 2020.
In detail, Greece's ranking in the five key areas of the index is as follows:
*Size of the state: 153rd place
*Rule of law and property rights: 54th place
*Access to strong currency: 75th place
*Freedom in international trade: 18th place
*Regulatory environment in banking, labor, and entrepreneurship: 143rd place.
Hong Kong and Singapore are at the top of the index again this year, ranking first and second respectively. Switzerland, New Zealand, and Denmark round out the top five countries with the best performance worldwide.
Further down, in 7th place is the US, in 12th place is Japan, in 25th place is Germany, in 44th place is Italy, and in 54th place is France. Other powerful countries are lower down the list, such as India (89th), Russia (94th), Brazil (114th), and China (116th).
Regarding the report and this year's performance, KEFiM President Alexandros Skouras stated: «Greece's nine-place drop in this year's Economic Freedom Index may be due in part to the size of the emergency state support package to boost the economy, but in any case, it is a very worrying development that should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers and, more broadly, the country's citizens.».
At the same time, lawyer and member of the KEFiM Board of Directors, Tasos Avrantinis, pointed out that Greece has fallen 50 places in terms of economic freedom since 2000, a fact which, as he notes among other things, «seriously undermines the country's development prospects, as well as opportunities for Greek women and men to create and prosper.».
